Yeah I agree with Ramona and the other last-gen girls. I don't really hate them but they were more like last-minute and one-dimensional. Meeshell being just shy, Jillian just fearless, and so on that there is no other personalities.
I guess if Ever After High wasn't canceled, I'm sure they would have given them some development as I can imagine there would be Cerise Hood special of her and the her wolf heritage (She does deserves a special given she has a cool background and her birth is considered questionable). Like besides Ramona, Farrah seems to have some character development of how she felt about wishes and being a good fairy even having interaction with Faybelle as they are cheerleaders. I even read her doll diary of how she is able to find a loophole regarding Ashlynn's destiny.
It's really unfair for the last-gen girls. Like if you compare Faybelle who first introduced in the third season, people got the idea that is she is the villainous fairy that will cursed the princess for 100 years. The audience expected her to be bad but as many shorts later, we seen how vulnerable she could have been taken Poppy's place if she were acted nicely. It's also cool that there some students with villainous destinies are royals and wanted to be bad which is weird in the early EAH where royals and rebels is basically royalties and commoners, which makes Blondie the most odd girl out. It is kinda why I like how some princes and princesses are rebels like Darling and Rosabella while non-royals like Faybelle are royals.
It is also the same with non-last generation girls when they first started. Lizzie debuted as a selfish woman but she grown to be kind girl who wanted to be a good queen and Briar was considered a party girl until Thronecoming of how she realized how her destiny will be like. We also understand why Duchess acted like a mean girl because she has an unfair destinies while the rest do even those who rebelled and there are times she can be kind. Even Humphrey has character development from two shorts, one from helping Duchess and one from conquering his fear of heights.
It is also why Epic Winter is the least favorite special and how Crystal has given a special who is just debuted and worst how the quest is finding the flowers from each kingdom (which is a bit boring) and Ashylnn and Rosabella being shoved to the special all because they are her childhood friends. The only reasons many people still watched it is because of Faybelle and Daring and Rosabella relationship.
I am sure the last-generation girls would have given development if it haven't been for the cancelation. Like I can imagine Ramona to be like Red Riding Hood more than the Big Bad Wolf which is contrast to Cerise who is more like the Big Bad Wolf or Meeshell is shy is because of an unfair destiny and she's afraid to be with people knowing her fate. Farrah could be someone who felt people rely too much on her wishes that they didn't bother to help themselves to improve.
oh yeah, the late-gen girls' lack of development can definitely be attributed to the show's cancellation.
but it's also true that by the end of Ever After High's run, the storytelling had started going all over the place. Dragon Games was such a wild special that it should have changed a lot for the world and series, but--as Epic Winter showed us--it didn't. and the new characters that were introduced in that era suffered for it.
i love Farrah! she's the best-developed 2015 character imo, simply because she's given a clear internal conflict that is shown to actually struggle with. the thing about wanting to help Ashlynn makes it even better <3 Meeshell had her own book which makes her a different case, but it was not enough to really solidify her character imo? (plus they cheapened her potential by altering her story, which is no fun at all because, as I've said before, she could have foiled Duchess Swan, whose destiny remained tragic.) i've always been bitter about Justine and Jillian not having more screentime because i love their designs, and there's so much lore that would make their development so cool.
to think about it another way--all of the original characters, and most of those that were introduced before 2015, were decently developed because we had insights into their internal conflict. that's why they are so lovable and relatable, because each of them, from a queen-bee character like Apple to even puppet-like Cedar, have a key struggle that anchors their characters. (... probably the only exception i can think of off the top of my head is Daring.) unlike the later characters, who feel to me as if they are defined by a certain set of personality traits (the profiles were changed in the later years to include "powerful qualities" which was an interesting decision), the older ones are just messes of wishes, quirks, flaws, and secrets. you can examine them through so many different viewpoints--from their stances, their own views informed by destiny's influence, personalities, actions, and so on. the inherent contradictions built into their characters make them so much more fascinating.
when i think of Lizzie Hearts, i think of the shouty, fierce, and uptight future Queen of Hearts--but i also think of the quiet, confused girl inside who wants nothing more than to see her mother again. but ask me to describe Nina Thumbell, and all i can really tell you is she's... brave? and likes to explore?
okay, upon checking the wiki i have now also discovered that she is an environmentalist. so... cool, i guess. that still tells me nothing about her character.
i agree that at this point, it's really up to the fans to decide for themselves how to characterize the remainder of the cast :)